A Braves blog of statistics, numbers, and CPA-driven analysis about Atlanta and the rest of the NL East.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Game 1 Recap: Marlins 7/2/13

Hits galore! Who needs homers, we can double you do death. Also, we can watch the Marlin self-destruct in the field. How many errors did they have in that game? They only listed 2, but it should have been about 6. The amount of bad fielding and terrible mistakes turned a good win for the Braves into a completely clownshoes laugher by the 7th inning. The Braves plated 11 runs on 16 hits, and went 8-22 with RISP. I was amazed we had that many chances. That's a .364 average with RISP (be still my heart). I love to see that kind of hitting. Love it. That's the kind of station to station production you need to win big games down the stretch. It's also pulling us out of a tailspin we'd had with RISP earlier in the season. Let's check the big board! Yep, Atlanta's moved out of 2nd to dead last in RISP average to 5th to dead last. Moving on up boys! We post a .232 average now on the season. If we can elevate to above a .250 by the end of the year? We will be a force to be reckoned with.

Did Medlen have his best stuff? No, and he admitted as such in a hilarious post-game interview. In fact, he noted that Homer Bailey and he had conflicting stuff that night (Bailey tossed a no-hitter). What mattered was after Kris gave up the 2 run homer in the first, he settled in nicely. We can rely on that as Braves fans. Our starters typically don't just explode all over the place when things go wrong. They do collect themselves and refocus nicely, a trait many hot-headed starters lack. Kris did refocus and went another 5 innings after his first inning problems. He gave up a very high number of hits with 9, but kept the damage to just 3 runs. The bullpen came in to do it's usual stellar work of 3 inning, no-run ball. Alex Wood looked extremely sharp as he went 2 innings giving up only a single baserunner.

I could recap all the hits, but we'd be here all day. BMac, CJ, and Justin really exploded in this game with 3 hits each, including 2 doubles by CJ, a double by BMac, and a triple by Justin. The Braves as a team only struck out 8 times, and only stranded 7 guys. They saw over 160 pitches in that stretch. Many times they were just getting into solid counts and teeing off on the right hitter's pitch. You can usually tell when a team is winning, because the opposing pitcher's are throwing more than 150 pitches. If that's the case, you have a good shot at plating a lot of runs with some timely hits. CJ was especially timely when it looked dire in the 6th tied at 3-3, and the Braves had squandered the bases loaded with nobody out. Chris came to the plate with 2 outs and doubled down the line to break the game open. If he doesn't get that hit, who knows what happens? The game turned on that one AB.

The CPA was right last night with the Braves victory, but it's going to forgo a pick today. The weather is terrible and I honestly don't think they will get the game in. Even if they do, it will be a rain-shortened or delayed affair that tosses most statistical analysis out the window. So, look to the skies and look to the rain delay programming. We'll see if we have baseball tonight.

About Me

I come home from a long day of cranking the adding machine, and during baseball season I know that almost every night at 7PM, the Braves will be there. They are like a comforting sports night lite. I fully admit to doing the Chop in my own living room, by myself, in order to get a rally going. I also admit to getting entirely too involved in the games by yelling at the TV. My neighbors probably think I'm insane. They may be correct.
I'm also a devout Christian, and a friend of Jesus. I enjoy discussing the Bible and teaching a class at my local church.